


Ghost Stories

by NancyBrown



Series: Intersections [11]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Community: trope_bingo, F/F, Huddling For Warmth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NancyBrown/pseuds/NancyBrown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The ship's AI has a strange sense of humor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Intersections series, set after/during/around Seagull. Written for Trope Bingo square: huddling for warmth

The power to the life support has fizzled again. Alice grinds her teeth to keep from chattering in the cold, and drags the blanket more firmly around her shoulders.

"Hilda," she says sweetly, or as sweetly as she can make herself sound under the circumstances, "what's gone wrong with the life support this time?"

The ship's AI hums to herself. Alice noticed years ago that the behaviour invariably accompanies situations where the ship has no intention of telling the actual truth, and instead is spinning a comfortable fable. Thus, when the humming ceases and Hilda says, "Nothing is wrong with the life support, " Alice is already prepared for the lie.

Before she can wind herself up in a shout at stupid bloody cargo ships who think they are Miss Clever, a chilly hand slaps over her mouth.

Alice glares at Jenny, who refuses to move her hand until Alice slumps her shoulders in defeat and nods. "Thank you, Hilda," she says instead of threatening the AI's circuits.

Jenny says, with far more patience than Alice can just now, "Hilda, dear, we know the life support is running. We still have air to breathe. But we'd like the heat turned back on."

More humming. "That's not possible right now."

Alice opens her mouth to protest but a stern glance from Jenny calms her. They'll deal with this when Hilda cools off, hopefully before they do. Jenny says, "Thank you, Hilda. Let us know, all right?"

"All right."

Jenny has hauled an extra four blankets from the sleeping quarters to the console room, the most insulated part of the ship. They'll maintain heat best right here, swaddled together for warmth between the panels. Alice spreads out one blanket beneath them, strings another between two large consoles like a tent, and wraps herself up with Jenny in the rest. They shiver together. Jenny's body temperature is below that of a human's, noticeably so as they huddle.

"This is nice," Jenny says, against all evidence.

"I hope she changes her mind soon," Alice replies. She ducks her head beneath a blanket to conserve the heat from her own breath. A second later, Jenny joins her. Even wrapped up, nose gone red from cold, Jenny is as adorable as an elf, an image made more fitting by her delighted smile. "Why on earth are you so pleased?"

Jenny shrugs. "This is just another adventure, yeah? You and me, camping out in the console room. We should toast marshmallows and tell ghost stories."

That's enough to draw a smile from Alice. "Do you know any ghost stories?"

"Let me think. Oh! I've got one. Once, the younger prince of the land killed his older brother to become king. He dripped poison in his ear, then married his brother's wife. But the old king came at night as a ghost to visit his son and demand revenge."

"That's Hamlet."

"Oh, you've heard it already." Jenny is downcast. Alice tries not to laugh. "Then you tell one."

"I don't know any good ones."

Jenny rests her head on Alice's shoulder. "Then make one up."

Alice thinks hard. Ghost stories don't hold the same charm once you've been dead, she decides, and it seems as though everyone she cares about has come back from the dead at least once, herself included. Jenny regenerates. Alice's father has his little trick. And her son has been made the recipient of a special gift indeed. No more ghosts, she thinks.

"Once upon a time," Alice says, breath puffing out little clouds of steam between them, "there lived a woman. She grew up under the shadow of a strange magic, which shaped her whole life. One day, the magic took away her most precious possession, and in her grief, the woman died."

Jenny pulls away, her hand against her mouth and eyes wide. She's clearly enthralled. Jenny's like that.

"But as her ghost wandered in pain and loneliness, a princess came to her, and offered the ghost another life. Together, they left the shadow and they travelled, through mountains and forests, and wet pools, and deep deserts, and the princess and the ghost helped people wherever they found them. And as the years passed, the ghost slowly came back to life. First her eyes began to shine again, and then her skin grew warm, and her legs learned to walk and run. On one adventure, the princess and the ghost were separated, and they fought to find each other. The ghost nearly died for good, but with her favourite friend at her side, she came back to life all the way, her heart finally beating again. Her most precious loss was restored to her, and she placed him where he would be forever safe and loved. And the princess and the former ghost returned to their travels, together always."

Jenny made a soft humming noise in her throat, not dissimilar to Hilda's. "I like that ghost story," she said, once more resting her head against Alice's arm.

"Me too."

Later, Alice won't be able to say with certainty if she moves her arm first or if Jenny moves her head first. Later, she won't know if she stops shivering from the cold and starts shivering with something else. And later, she won't care.

Jenny never loses her elf-like grin as their lips meet under the blanket tent. Her mouth is chilly, but so is Alice, and after a while, neither of them are cold at all.

Hilda turns the heat back on ten minutes later.

***  
The End  
***


End file.
